The present invention relates to bed frames, and, more particularly, to a mechanism that facilitates the interconnection of a center beam in setting up a bed frame.
In general, bed frames are comprised of a pair of side rails and a plurality of cross bars that span between the side rails in order to assemble and complete the bed frame structure. The bed frame, once assembled is adapted to support a box spring and a mattress to make up the bed itself. Normally, therefore, the bed frame assembly is shipped and delivered unassembled for convenience and general transportation and the two side rails comprise L-shaped steel members. The cross bars are formed of cross bar members that are pivotally affixed at or near each end of the side rails. In the assembly of the bed frame at the location of the customer, therefore, the cross bar members are interfitted with and parallel to the side rails for ease of shipment and the cross bar members are pivoted about 90 degrees so as to extend generally at a right angle from the side rails and the opposite, free ends of the cross bar members are affixed together at the center area of the bed frame to form cross bars that thus span between each of the side rails. As such, when so assembled and affixed together, the bed frame assumes a generally rectangular configuration to accept the box spring and the mattress.
There is also, normally, a center beam that is positioned so as to be generally parallel to the side rails and which is located at or near the center of the bed frame in order to provide additional support to the overall structure and, of course to the box spring and mattress. In the assembly of the bed frame for a queen size bed, for example, each of the pivotable cross bar members are rotated with respect to the side rails so as to extend at a right angle and then the free ends affixed together to form cross bars. One common means for affixing the free ends of the cross bar members together is through the use of one or more standoff rivets on one of the mating cross bar members and a corresponding set of one or more keyhole slots formed in the other mating cross bar member. The standoff rivets are inserted through the enlarged area of the keyhole slots and relative movement between the mating cross bar members causes the standoff rivets to be moved and repositioned at the smaller end of the keyhole slots where the unit is affixed together. When the center beam is thereafter added to the bed frame, screws are inserted through the then mated cross bar members to form a cross bar in order to prevent the further relative movement between the cross bar members as well as to secure the center beam into the bed frame to finalize the task of assembling that bed frame.
Accordingly, to fully and completely carry out the assembly of the aforedescribed bed frame, it is necessary for the assembler to utilize hand tools to assemble the overall bed frame in tightening the screws and, obviously, it is also necessary for the bed frame supplier to provide individual screws to be affixed to Tinnerman clips, or simply nuts and bolts along with the other more major components of the bed frame to facilitate the assembly. In some cases, the nuts themselves may be held captive in the assembly and therefore are not needed as separate components, i.e. the Tinnerman clips, however in such case, the screws still need to be supplied along with the assembly and tools needed to tighten the screws, even if the Tinnerman clips are captive. It would still, therefore, be advantageous from the standpoint of both the assembler as well as the bed frame supplier to eliminate the need for hand tools and the supplying of bolts and nuts or screws with the bed frame assembly.
In the case of a king size bed or a California king size bed, there is also the need for an extension bar to span between the interconnecting cross bar members in order to achieve the required length of the assembled cross bars to properly span the distance between the side rails to accommodate the larger size box spring and mattress. The use of an extension bar is necessary due to the added width of the box spring and mattress for a king or California king size bed in order to be able to use standard length of cross bars. Otherwise, if the cross bars were deliberately made to be of sufficient lengths for a king or California king size bed, they would be too long to be used with a small bed frame as they would extend outwardly beyond the normal width of those bed frames, that is, the cross bars would need to extend longer than the width of small bed frame.
Thus the extension bar is provided to add the additional length to the interconnecting cross bar members in order to provide the necessary width to the king or California king bed frame and to enable the manufacture to use the same length of cross bar members for all sizes of bed frame. In that manner, the cross bar members can be the same length as with the queen size bed frame rather that have specially sized cross bar members for each bed frame configuration. As can therefore be recognized, since the cross bar members themselves are of a standard length, there is then needed, two differing lengths of extension bars to construct the king and California king size bed frames.
Accordingly the differing length extension bars for the king and California king size bed frames require the supplier to maintain an inventory of each of the extension bars to be shipped depending on the particular frame size, thereby creating an inventory, labeling and identification problem and also raising the possibility that the wrong extension bar can be sent to the customer and incur the annoyance of that customer and the need to spend time to correct the problem. In addition, the assembly of the bed frame for the king and California king sizes, as with the prior description, still requires the use of hand tools as well as the supplying of the proper bolts, nuts or screws to the customer to carry out the assembly of the bed frame.
It thus would be advantageous to have a bed frame assembly that would avoid the problem requiring hand tools for the affixing of the cross bar members together to form a cross bar and also for the further assembly of the center beam to the cross bars in completing the assembly of a bed frame. In addition, it would be advantageous to have a common or universal extension bar that is equally adaptable for use with a king size bed frame or a California king size bed frame so that only one extension bar need be supplied with either of those sizes of bed frames and also to have some indicia associated with the universal extension bar to facilitate the proper assembly of the king or California king size bed frames to assure that the ultimate width of the assembled bed frame is the proper dimension to accommodate the king or California king size box spring and mattress.